inst a threatened cold.

Another young man, Lieut. Thomas MacDonough, the naval commandant, now
endeavoured to stir him by a sense of danger. First he announced that
his long boats, and gunboats were ready and in six hours he could
transfer three thousand troops from Burlington to Plattsburg. Then he
ventured to urge the necessity for action.

Champlain is a lake of two winds. It had brown from the south for two
weeks; now a north wind was likely to begin any day. MacDonough urged
this point, but all in vain, and, shocked and humiliated, the young man
obeyed the order "to wait till his advice was asked."

The next day Hampton ordered a review, not an embarkation, and was not
well enough to appear in person.

The whole army knew now of the situation of affairs, and the militia in
particular were not backward in expressing their minds.

Next day, July 30th, the wind changed. Hampton did nothing. On the
morning of July 31st they heard the booming of guns in the north, and at
night their scouts came with the news that the raid was on. Plattsburg
was taken and pillaged by a force less than one third of those held at
Burlington.

There were bitter, burning words on the lips of the rank and file, and
perfunctory rebukes on the lips of the young officers when they chanced
to overhear. The law was surely working out as set forth by Si Sylvanne:
"The fools in command, the leaders in the ranks."

And now came news of fresh disasters--the battles of Beaverdam,
Stony Creek, and Niagara River. It was the same story in nearly every
case--brave fighting men, ill-drilled, but dead shots, led into traps by
incompetent commanders.

In September Lieutenant Macomb was appointed to command at Plattsburg.
This proved as happy an omen as it was a wise move. Immediately after,
in all this gloom, came the news of Perry's famous victory on Lake Erie,
marking a new era for the American cause, followed by the destruction of
Moraviantown and the British army which held it.

Stirred at last to action General Wilkinson sent despatches to Hampton
to arrange an attack on Montreal. There was no possibility of failure,
he said, for the sole defence of Montreal was 600 marines. His army
consisted of 8000 men. Hampton's consisted of 4000. By a union of these
at the mouth of Chateaugay River, they would form an invincible array.

So it seemed. Rolf had not yet seen any actual fighting and began to
long for the front. But his powers as a courier ke